Review on The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis.
The four loves is a book about different types of love written by C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). Lewis was a man of many occupations such as Novelist, scholar, broadcaster and English literature tutor, but for this purpose a British novelist, who studied at Oxford University and was married to Joy Davidman and is still celebrated for his wonderful works. Apart from The four loves, he wrote other books like, The Allegory of Love, Boxen, God in the Dock, Miracles, Mere Christianity, and a lot more. Though most of his books are fiction and Christian related, his books have high ratings. Geoffrey Bles published the book the four loves in 1960, which was first issued in 1958.
This book is basically about love, and is based on philosophical and Christianity perspectives. In the introduction, Lewis talks about the difference between need love and gift love. According to him, “The first distinction I made was therefore between what I called Gift-love and Need-love” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He also went on to give examples of these types of love, which are not part of the four loves. His example of gift-love was a “love, which moves a man to work and plan and save for the future well-being of his family which he will die without sharing or seeing” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He further explained that, “Divine Love is Gift-love. The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father and gives Himself to the world, and for the world to the Father, and thus gives the world (in Himself) back to the Father too” (The four loves, Pg. 3). I believe when he says ‘father’ he means God the almighty and when he says ‘son’, he means Jesus. On the other hand, to describe need-love, he uses the love a child has for its mother, when he says “that which sends a lonely or frightened child to its mother 's arms” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He also described need-love in a Christian way, which is when we humans seek “forgiveness for our sins or support in our tribulations” (The four loves, Pg. 5) from God. Though need-love might seem like a selfish kind of love, Lewis cautioned against calling need-love a mere selfish love and he also explained why when he said, “A tyrannous and gluttonous demand for affection can be a horrible thing. But in ordinary life no one calls a child selfish because it turns for comfort to its mother”(The four loves, Pg. 4). The four different types of loves described in C. S Lewis book “The four Loves” are, Affection (Storge), Friendship (Philia), Erotic love (Eros) and Charity (Agape or God love). Affection love in this book is described as a love shared between family members or people that are familiar. It is a natural kind of love cause as humans we just naturally love our family members. Affection love does not discriminate and it is present in both Friendship and Eros loves. Storge as it is called in Greek is a “"affection, especially of parents to offspring"; but also of offspring to parents”(The four loves, Pg. 30). Lewis at this point try’s to explain the paradox between need love and gift love using the situation of a an infant and his mother, “The Need and Need-love of the young is obvious; so is the Gift-love of the mother. She gives birth, gives suck, gives protection. On the other hand, she must give birth or die. She must give suck or suffer. That way, her Affection too is a Need-love. There is the paradox” …show more content…
Freud’s theory of love is a Univocal love which means in one voice or one meaning while C. S Lewis theory of love is multivalent which means with different meanings, which I have already explained above. As much as Freud’s theory helps to see the big picture of every situation, Lewis theory is more related to the real world. In the sense that, not all loves are the same, the way a person would love God is different from the way they’ll love their parents or family which is also different from the way they’ll love their lovers and
The four loves is a book about different types of love written by C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). Lewis was a man of many occupations such as Novelist, scholar, broadcaster and English literature tutor, but for this purpose a British novelist, who studied at Oxford University and was married to Joy Davidman and is still celebrated for his wonderful works. Apart from The four loves, he wrote other books like, The Allegory of Love, Boxen, God in the Dock, Miracles, Mere Christianity, and a lot more. Though most of his books are fiction and Christian related, his books have high ratings. Geoffrey Bles published the book the four loves in 1960, which was first issued in 1958.
This book is basically about love, and is based on philosophical and Christianity perspectives. In the introduction, Lewis talks about the difference between need love and gift love. According to him, “The first distinction I made was therefore between what I called Gift-love and Need-love” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He also went on to give examples of these types of love, which are not part of the four loves. His example of gift-love was a “love, which moves a man to work and plan and save for the future well-being of his family which he will die without sharing or seeing” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He further explained that, “Divine Love is Gift-love. The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father and gives Himself to the world, and for the world to the Father, and thus gives the world (in Himself) back to the Father too” (The four loves, Pg. 3). I believe when he says ‘father’ he means God the almighty and when he says ‘son’, he means Jesus. On the other hand, to describe need-love, he uses the love a child has for its mother, when he says “that which sends a lonely or frightened child to its mother 's arms” (The four loves, Pg. 3). He also described need-love in a Christian way, which is when we humans seek “forgiveness for our sins or support in our tribulations” (The four loves, Pg. 5) from God. Though need-love might seem like a selfish kind of love, Lewis cautioned against calling need-love a mere selfish love and he also explained why when he said, “A tyrannous and gluttonous demand for affection can be a horrible thing. But in ordinary life no one calls a child selfish because it turns for comfort to its mother”(The four loves, Pg. 4). The four different types of loves described in C. S Lewis book “The four Loves” are, Affection (Storge), Friendship (Philia), Erotic love (Eros) and Charity (Agape or God love). Affection love in this book is described as a love shared between family members or people that are familiar. It is a natural kind of love cause as humans we just naturally love our family members. Affection love does not discriminate and it is present in both Friendship and Eros loves. Storge as it is called in Greek is a “"affection, especially of parents to offspring"; but also of offspring to parents”(The four loves, Pg. 30). Lewis at this point try’s to explain the paradox between need love and gift love using the situation of a an infant and his mother, “The Need and Need-love of the young is obvious; so is the Gift-love of the mother. She gives birth, gives suck, gives protection. On the other hand, she must give birth or die. She must give suck or suffer. That way, her Affection too is a Need-love. There is the paradox” …show more content…
Freud’s theory of love is a Univocal love which means in one voice or one meaning while C. S Lewis theory of love is multivalent which means with different meanings, which I have already explained above. As much as Freud’s theory helps to see the big picture of every situation, Lewis theory is more related to the real world. In the sense that, not all loves are the same, the way a person would love God is different from the way they’ll love their parents or family which is also different from the way they’ll love their lovers and